{the blog}

Torgesen Family Times

{We are trying to enjoy and record the moments that make life special}

Sara is now done with Soccer and has started her new “thing”. She was really into starting a dance activity of some sort. Every time music starts she starts bopping to the beat. I even researched places to take her that were well regarded and was ready to pull the trigger. I just needed to find her a leotard, tights and shoes.

But, then she had a change of heart. I asked her a number of times, knowing how preschoolers change their minds. But, she had definitely changed hers – no dance.

She wanted to go to “Wiggle Worms” aka gymnastics/tumbling.

So back to the place we’ve been to for ~5 years between the kids. They have everything from ~1 year old “Wiggle Worms” on up. My kids just loved the name wiggle worms so much – that it stuck (for every class). At her first class of the session, I just couldn’t resist and got her a gymnastics outfit that is just perfect for her. It’s velvet black on the bottom and it is so soft. And green!

She loves the class and is very pleased with her new gymnastics outfit. A great fit all around!

I've been thinking that he might like to try it for quite a while. Last year would have been fine but there were so many new things with the start of kindergarten that I didn't want to push anymore than necessary.

We played in the same league that we did with Alex when he was in the same age range. It’s a group of ten(!) 3 & 4 year olds and they are always looking for volunteer coaches. I decided that I’ve watched and helped enough and that I could be the coach this year for Sara. It was a big job and not for the faint of heart, but I was so glad I did it. Sara loved that I was her coach and we had so much fun together. Although it was very challenging for a few main reasons (like 2 sets of sibling boys!), overall I really liked it and would do it again in a heartbeat. I learned a lot that would help me in future years. The first year is always the hardest, right?

Sara was so excited since she remembers Alex playing soccer last year. We would play with her on the sidelines and she was so excited to be a “big kid” (my kids are VERY motivated by being “big kids”) playing soccer, just like “Brudder”/Alex.

We got her shin guards and soccer shorts and she was so excited to find out that the shirts were green! They come in all different colors for all the teams and there was a dark green and light green when they handed them out – I said a little prayer – please give me one of the green colors! And my prayers were answered! Sara’s favorite color is green and she was so excited! She also really liked playing with my whistle.

We played all sorts of games and my “goals” for the team were to:

1). have fun

2). make friends

3). learn a tiny bit of soccer

In that order.

I stole that from Alex’s excellent coach for the last two years. It works wonders. If the kids aren’t having fun – do something different.

We played duck, duck, goose (for sheer fun), racing from sideline to sideline (so the kids could start to learn where the infield was), sink your battleship (shooting at a target), dog catcher (slow control over the ball, but then a big kick to make it fun), shooting into the goal (for obvious reasons). We pretty much did the same thing every Saturday morning, and by the end of the 7 weeks – they really got it! After the first week I wasn’t so sure this was going to work out!

Being on the field was hard for me in another way too – I couldn’t take pictures AND coach – so I asked my trusty husband to snap a few. Thanks honey! I get to be in some of the pictures too!

Sara scored some goals and she was SO happy about this! She would run up to me, beaming with happiness and so proud, and almost knock me over! There were some big 4 year olds out there, that knew what they were doing, and she did it! I was so proud of her and it was just so much fun to watch her play. I enjoyed that part the most. Just watching her.

Of course, as the season drew to a close, the leaves started falling and that was just so much fun on the sidelines too.

The league gives out soccer medals to each participant and we did a little awards ceremony after our last game. They reminded me that for some kids, mine included, this would be the first time they received something like this. So, make it special and call each kid up one at a time and have everyone cheer to make them all feel special.

Sara was so happy about her medal and I was too. What a great way to end a great season.

What I’ve learned is that we’ll keep doing soccer as long as she’s having fun.

Alex lost his two first teeth and was SO happy about this. You can see in the pictures below how excited he is.

It was new, and it was very exciting!

And it means you’re a big kid in kindergarten and first grade – big time! He was so sad last year when he didn’t loose any teeth saying that “everyone” else had lost teeth. He would even have me feel his teeth saying “see Mom – it feels loose, right?” I would nod my head and say it felt a little tiny bit loose.

It would come out when it was ready, and since there was so much change going from preschool to kindergarten, that maybe they were just waiting to settle down into first grade a bit before they came out. I even joked that Mama had had enough change with him starting kindergarten and that I wasn’t ready yet - wasn’t ready for him to have too much happening! At the end of kindergarten, he asked me (break my heart!) if I would be ready for him to lose his teeth. I said yes, of course!

And right on queue, September of first grade rolls around and he has a slightly loose tooth. We go see the dentist and she makes a prediction that the two bottom teeth will be out before Halloween, and what do you know? They are out before Halloween! The first one about 3 weeks before and the second one just days before Halloween.

I love him growing up so much – but at the same time I want to just freeze him and keep him this way forever. I just love this age!

For the record, he lost his first one at home (thank goodness!) with Daddy taking a paper towel and gently pulling it out (quickly). The second one came out at school and the dentist gave him this tooth necklace to put his tooth in if he lost it at school. Perfect!

Those new big kid teeth are coming in fast now! I’ve heard once they start to loose teeth – they come out all in rapid succession – and it’s very true!